In the time before time and the space before space… in the Eternal Now… there was No-thing, Non-Being. Some call it the essence of God. Some call it the First Cause. It goes by many names, but as the Tao Te Ching says – the Tao that can be named is not the true Tao… Let’s call it Mu**.

Now, it’s a misnomer, really, to say Mu contained everything that existed – because nothing existed, yet. Even Mu did not exist – for Mu is transcendent and beyond such confines. It would be more apt, metaphorically speaking, to say Mu contained/contains the potential for all things. Now, there are different theories as to why Mu thought creation. Maybe it was out of simple curiosity. Mu thought of all these possibilities – and wanted to see how they would pan out. Or perhaps Mu would never change without providing itself limits and challenges and means with which to grow. Perhaps there’s another reason I haven’t thought of, or haven’t listed, but either way – Mu thought and creation was born.

The first thing that Mu did was will itself into Being – while still retaining its essence and awareness outside of Being. The name that it gave itself as the essence of Being is Chao**. The Totality is represented, then, as Mu-Chao.

The Chao, not doing much of anything except just being Being, divided itself – much like any single celled organism must do to reproduce. These two divisions of the Chao can be conceptualized as the Primal Polarities – Yin and Yang, Order and Chaos, Male and Female, the Hodge and Podge**. As I sometimes (half jokingly) call them – Big Daddy O and Great Mama Chaos.

Now, as with all couples, they didn’t always get along – being polar opposites and everything. Order would go into his den and make things, but Chaos found no greater fun than in tearing things down. But the greatest things happened when they worked together in Harmony, Balancing and Unifying the Dualities. From these unions came the Primal Forces – the Elder Gods.

The Elder Gods are often mentioned in Creation Myths as the creators of the Earth. They are also the raw elemental forces of the Earth. The Deep of the Sea… the Life of the Earth… the Light of the Sky… and so on... They are the Titans of the Greeks, the Vanir of the Norse, and the Fomor of the Celts. These are the gods who are both the essences of, and the shapers of Physical Creation. They wove the first Patterns… and these patterns and motifs also became alive and were imbued with their own essences. These are the children/creations/enemies of the Elder Gods…

These new gods are the more ‘humanistic’ gods. They often embody psychological aspects of Nature (and humans), or else they are lesser aspects of physical Nature. These are the gods whom are mostly worshipped; for these are the gods closest to us… or rather, we are closest to them. Pieces of us are made up of their essences… everything is connected…

All the gods… all nature… all people are made of the essences of the Universe – of the Mu’Chao. But all things are also essentially unique – the way they are brought together is different for every living thing. Depending on which pieces are predominant is a factor in determining our personality traits. It is also a factor in which gods we are called to – for a warrior will be called to a warrior, a poet to a poet, a healer to a healer, and so on and so forth. Through our spiritual connection to the Web, we are connected to the gods, who are of the elder gods, who are of the Primal Duality, who are of the Chao which is of the Mu – the One that is All… Every action reverberates along the Web – sending ripples which can be felt near and far. To what degree these ripples affect other portions of the Web depends on both proximity and potency… Large vibrations can affect the entire Web, whereas small vibrations tend to affect only the immediate area. However, those ripples can cause other ripples in unknown and unpredictable ways… this is chaos within the pattern…

Our Fate, as it were, unfolds on the Web as it is woven – and it is continuously woven. The Norse had a concept of fate they called Wyrd. Unlike the predestined and static Fate of the Greeks, a person’s wyrd was in flux and could change based on the decisions they make. The decisions they make is affected by their past decisions, the behaviors and traits that they are predisposed to, which is also affect by both their essence and their upbringing. Picture a spider’s web. Along the web you come to conjunction points where different strands merge and branch off. Those are the major decision moments, and depending on what decision you make depends on what path unfolds before you. Those who can foresee such things often see into the path that you are most probable to take, based on said predispositions – but you can go another way. There’s nothing static about it. Everything changes… and everything is connected…

Of course – everything is also relative… and truth is a matter of perception and perspective… so, there ya go…

*This is mostly humorous, but it does get the general gist of my beliefs... and I see it as a useful myth, and a lesser attempt at a meta-myth.

**Mu, Chao, Hodge-Podge and other duly noted words/concepts are taken from the Principia Discordia